Zack chuckled. “It will take us longer but if that’s what you want, we’ll do that. We’ve done it before. But I’ll only do it on one condition.”
“What’s that?” She eyed him carefully.
“You let me help you decorate it tonight.”
She smiled and this time her gesture was less discreet, wrapping her arms around him and standing on tiptoe to reach up and kiss him. There were catcalls and comments behind them, but they only made her smile more.
Half an hour later she had her tree, root ball wrapped in a hessian sack and on the trailer to be dropped off at the hotel. She, Rayah and Sadie Grace were sipping hot chocolate from a flask that Keren had brought, hiking over the fields from her tiny cottage to choose her tree. Scott had ignored Keren, which was a step up from his usual insults. Maybe they were finding some sort of truce.
Sorrell had watched as Jake, Zack and Scott dug up her tree with almost ease. They’d discarded coats before she’d arrived, the movement enough to keep them warm.
“How do they make it look easy?” she’d said to Rayah, who still had Sadie Grace attached to her.
“Because they grew up on a working farm and our dads made us all graft once we were old enough,” Rayah had said. “Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t slave labour or anything like that and we had a lot of fun, but the boys were mucking out and lifting bales of hay from eleven and twelve. They’re strong and fit. This is child’s play to them.”
“What about Jonny?” Sorrell had said, looking down at Sadie who was buried into Rayah’s coat with a book.
Rayah had shrugged and looked over to where he was felling a tree with Jake. “He’s been friends with them since they could talk. And he helped on the farm growing up. He’s a good man.”
Sorrell hadn’t said any more.
She stood at the doorway to the lounge, looking at the bare Christmas tree that was now in the corner of the room, figuring out how to decorate it. It was tall, about seven foot, maybe seven and a half, so she would need Zack’s help or a pair of stepladders and maybe the stepladders would be useful anyway. Otherwise it would be a case of climbing onto the mantelpiece and that probably wasn’t the wisest idea, given her poor history with anything athletic.
“Sorrell, have you got a minute?”
She turned round into the hall to see Lena, the twenty-one-year-old who had come begging for a job after dropping out of university and now took whatever shifts were available. Sorrell had an inkling that Lena was going to ask at some point if there was any chance she could lodge at the hotel as things weren’t great at home. It was something else to consider.
“Any time you like,” she said, giving the girl a smile. “What’s up?”
“The room I’ve just cleaned—where the Dolans were staying. It’s a bit—I think you should see it.” She looked flustered and embarrassed. “I’m not sure what to clean and what to leave.”
“Okay, let me come with you and we’ll check it out.” Sorrell followed her up the stairs to the large room at the back of the hotel. The Dolans were a married couple in their late thirties, both professionals, both lovely when she’d met them this morning. They’d headed down to the town to do some Christmas shopping in the little boutique stores and check out the market that was on Saturdays and had a reputation for being one of the best in the Peaks.
Lena unlocked the room and stepped in, rather tentatively. Sorrell saw that the room had been half-cleaned; the bed had been made and the curtains and blinds arranged as they should be for the day. When evening started to fall, they did a turn down service, moving back the bed covers, leaving chocolates on the pillows, closing the blinds and turning on soft lighting, but for the day, things were neat and tidy.
But Lena hadn’t been able to straighten everything today.
Four sets of handcuffs were on the bed, one from each post. A blindfold was on one bedside table with a bottle of lube, on the other was a paddle. The upholstered chair had been brought closer to the bed and next to it was a fleece blanket and two empty bottles of water. After care, Sorrell figured. She also figured Lena needed to read a few books from her romance section.
“What would you do if it was magazines or sanitary products?” she said, going back to her induction.
“Straighten everything up without moving it. Throw away any waste.” Lena looked at her with large grey eyes. “That’s what I do here, isn’t it?”
Sorrell nodded slowly. “You’re going to find a lot kinkier stuff than this working in a hotel, honey, trust me. Want me to help?”
The girl shook her head. “No, I can manage. This is the last room. Do you think she’s into all this?” She pointed to the handcuffs.
“I don’t think she’d have got married unless she was. And you never know, he might be the one being handcuffed and spanked,” Sorrell said, trying not to think too deeply about this given that she would likely see the couple tomorrow at breakfast, if not beforehand at the lights switch-on in town.
She heard Lena let out a deep sigh. “I know; I’m being a little naïve…”
Sorrell put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders, feeling protective of her. Lena was a lot different to most girls at that age, she was far more sheltered and nowhere near as independent. “Give it a few months and I’m pretty sure this will be tame compared to some of the things you’ll find.”
There was a nod and a face full of determination. “I’m on it. And I can hang out here tonight rather than go into town and keep an eye on things.”
Sorrell put on her therapist’s face. Lena should’ve been in the town tonight, hanging out with friends and maybe meeting a boy. Something was amiss there and she wasn’t sure what. “If you’re sure that’d be a big help. But only if you don’t want to go yourself? I know Abby is heading up here as soon as she’s finished at the bar, so there’ll be someone here all evening.”
“I’m sure,” Lena said. “I’ll get this room done. You can go think about your Christmas tree some more.”
